Did you know? WNY is going for a fourth straight title in a fourth different league. It won the W-League (2010), WPS (2011) and WPSL Elite (2012).

At stake: If WNY wins, it hosts No. 2 Kansas City or No. 3 Portland in the Aug. 31 title match. KC vs. Portland is at 2 p.m. Saturday.

PREVIEW: In January when Abby Wambach was allocated to the Western New York Flash by the United States Soccer Federation, she said was excited to be in Rochester again on a more regular basis and hoped to give the fans in her hometown something to see this summer. So far, so good. But U.S. national team star had a message for her Flash teammates this week. “We haven’t won anything yet,” Wambach said. “Regular-season champs, that’s awesome, but that’s not why I got into this league. I got into this league to win a championship and bring home the real hardware.” The quest for that starts in Saturday’s 8 p.m. National Women’s Soccer League semifinals, as top-seeded WNY (10-4-8) plays No. 4 Sky Blue FC (10-6-6), the team from New Jersey that it has beaten in three of four matches, including a pair of dominating 3-0 victories. SBFC started 7-1 and led the NWSL much of the first half of the season, but it comes in reeling from injuries and results. Coach Jim Gabarra’s squad is just 1-3-3 since mid-July. “It’s more about what we didn’t do. I think it’s all been about us,” Gabarra said about previous failings against the Flash. “I told (my players) even after those results, poor performances, it’s not like you’re walking off the field and going, ‘Oh my God, we have to do something completely different to try to beat this team.’ We just didn’t come out with the proper energy and proper focus.”

Abby Wambach, right, and Carli Lloyd celebrate one of the 19 goals they've combined to score this season out of the Flash's 36. Wambach also has 8 assists.

Gabarra was the coach for the Washington Freedom in 2003 when they won the WUSA title with a young, high-scoring forward named Wambach on the Mia Hamm-led team. If the Flash win on Saturday, they’ll host No. 3 FC Kansas City or No. 3 Portland in next Saturday’s final. Season-ending injuries to backs Kelley O’Hara and Caitlin Foord, along with other knocks to former Flash midfielder Brittany Bock, forward Lisa DeVanna and midfielder Sophie Schmidt, played a big role in SBFC’s downward spiral. That put pressure to perform and lead on veteran center back Christie Rampone, captain of the U.S. national team, and goalies Jill Loyden and Brittany Cameron, another former WNY player. “It’s going to be very important just for the confidence for our team,” Rampone said of a strong start Saturday. The Flash bring swagger, but not arrogance, into Saturday. They have enough veterans to know that this isn’t a best-of series. It’s 90 minutes and in soccer anything can happen. They also have the NWSL’s best and most stable defense, anchored by center backs Brittany Taylor and Estelle Johnson and rookie goalie, Adrianna Franch. WNY is 8-1-2 at home, the lone loss coming in the home opener to Boston, and went 4-0-3 down the stretch with four shutouts. One of those was a 3-0 win on July 21 over SBFC, as Carli Lloyd’s 13th-minute goal seized control early before strikes from Taylor (35th) and Samantha Kerr (56th). The Flash’s top attackers have torched SBFC in out-scoring it 8-2 this season. Kerr and Wambach each have two goals and two assists and Lloyd has two goals. “We made some poor decisions and made some (defensive) mistakes and they’re going to punish you for that,” Gabarra said.

The Flash have jumped on top early in each win over SBFC, as goals from Adriana Martin (sixth minute), Kerr (fourth) and Lloyd (13th) set the tone. Rampone’s poor trap in a 2-1 loss in Rochester on May 1 led directly to Wambach’s 20th-minute goal that made it 2-0. In the 3-0 win on June 8 in New Jersey, another poor trap by a defender just before halftime put the ball on Lloyd’s foot in the box. She hammered it home for a 2-0 cushion. If SBFC makes it to halftime Saturday without giving up a goal, it may feel like a win. “We put ourselves in a position and forced our opponent into making mistakes and we were able to capitalize,” Lines said, debunking Gabarra’s notion that SBFC’s errors were unforced. Even after losing 1-0 in Jersey in their season opener, the Flash came away feeling decent about their debut on April 14. Why? SBFC’s goal was a Flash own-goal off a corner kick. Lloyd also didn’t play, and if Adriana converted a 15th-minute penalty kick or Wambach cashed in on an open look from 14 yards in stoppage-time, the type of chance the reigning FIFA World Player of the Year converts 90 percent of the time, the result is probably different. After that miss, Wambach sent out this post-game tweet: “A sincere apology to all the @WNYFlash fans, players and staff. I take responsibility for not doing my job tonight. It won’t happen again.”

She wasn’t kidding. All Wambach did in the next 17 games was score 11 goals and record 8 assists, both team highs. She was named Flash MVP this week and is a contender for the same honor in the league. It’ll likely go to her or FC Kansas City midfielder Lauren Holiday, who had 12 goals and nine assists. Not that individual awards matter, Wambach said. She called those “feel-good” honors that you celebrate when the season’s over. “For me, the real award is the championship that you get to lift at the end of the season,” the 31-year-old said. “There’s no greater motivation than to be able to host a final in your backyard.”

SATURDAY ON KICK THIS! It’s all-NWSL, all the time. We have several guests scheduled for our radio show, including Boston Breakers player-coach Cat Whitehill, who’ll help us break down the semifinal matchups, Sky Blue coach Jim Gabarra, defender Christie Rampone and GK Brittany Cameron. From the Flash we have coach Aaran Lines, midfielder and team captain McCall Zerboni and Lloyd. Tune in at 11 a.m. ET, listen live at www.whtk.com, AM 1280 locally or on the iHeartRadio app.

Top-seeded Western New York (10-4-8) has won three of four matchups with No 4 Sky Blue FC (10-6-6). They square off in Saturday’s 8 p.m. NWSL semifinals at Sahlen’s Stadium. Here’s a look at the games they’ve played so far:

Sky Blue rides own-goal to 1-0 win (April 14 in NJ): In the season opener for both teams, the Flash failed to cash in on an early penalty kick and it proved costly. Adriana Martin’s 15th-minute shot was deflected wide by former Flash goalie Brittany Cameron, who would go on to post five shutouts in the first eight games as she replaced injured Jill Loyden. SBFC scored off an own-goal in the 42nd minute that deflected off Flash captain McCall Zerboni on a shot off a corner kick. WNY nearly stole a point late on a swift counter attack in the 94th minute, but with Cameron out of position Abby Wambach’s open shot was off target.

Flash grab first win, 2-1 (May 1 in Rochester): Facing an 0-2-1 start to the season, WNY earns its first victory behind goals from Adriana and Abby Wambach, both off defensive miscues. Samantha Kerr set up both. In fact, she tortured fellow Aussie and teenager, Caitlin Foord, all evening. In the sixth minute, Kerr turned the corner and slid a pass to the near post, where an unmarked Adriana slotted it in. In the 20th minute, Kerr floated a pass into the box and the usually sure-footed Christine Rampone botched the trap. The ball bounced perfectly to Wambach and she converted, giving the Flash a healthy cushion that held up.

Flash dominate in 3-0 masterpiece (June 8 in NJ): In what may have been the most complete effort by WNY all season, certainly on the road, Kerr (fourth minute), Lloyd (45th) and Wambach (82nd) scored and rookie goalkeeper Adrianna Franch made five saves to finally be rewarded with the first shutout of her pro career. Wambach’s unselfish pass in front to Kerr set up the 19-year-old; Lloyd cashed in on another SBFC trap that went awry and the third goal was a great build up, as midfielder Angela Salem forced a turnover, passed to Lloyd and she found Kerr streaking up the right flank. Kerr waited for Wambach to dart down the center of the box and Wambach scored from about 10 yards on a sliding boot in between two defenders.

Flash do it Sky Blue again, win 3-0 (July 21 in Rochester): Already without injured Kelley O’Hara (ankle), the visitors lose Lisa DeVanna (19th minute) and Foord (31st) in the opening half and never recovered, trailing 2-0 at intermission on goals from Lloyd (35th) and Brittany Taylor (35th). Kerr finished it off, converting in the 56th minute and Wambach contributed a pair of assists.

Here’s a link to my profile of Western New York Flash and United States national team midfielder, Carli Lloyd, who has become exactly the type of force attacking out of the midfield that the Flash needed. She has eight goals in just 15 games. Her three game-winners are tied for the team lead with Abby Wambach. Without Lloyd, Abby wouldn’t have had the type of MVP season she has had and without Abby, Carli certainly wouldn’t have been so dangerous. This partnership has been carried over from the U.S. national team and I’d say has been even more effective here in the NWSL. Two world-class talents can really make a difference and if there’s a better attacking group in the league beyond Wambach, Lloyd, Samantha Kerr and Adriana, explain to me why you think that. One part of Lloyd’s life that I didn’t squeeze into the story but I think makes her (and her boyfriend, Brian Hollins) unique is the mature way in which they’ve approached their relationship. They’ve been together 13 years, since high school back in New Jersey. I’m sure, like any couple, they’ve had ups and downs and mostly they’ve been a long-distance couple. That’s never easy. I joked with Carli that I’m sure she gets asked all the time, “13 years??? No ring yet?” Instead of putting up a wall on that question, like many athletes would do, she answered more than graciously. (Hey, when an interview is going well, as a reporter, you feel more at ease to take chances). Lloyd explained how she and Brian have made it work. Lloyd said in order for her to get where she is in her profession, soccer needed to be No. 1. Brian shares the same view, she said. He has pursued a career in pro golf, playing in mini-tours for years. Now he’s an assistant golf pro in Jersey, so it’s more stable for him, but he needed to travel all over the country just like Carli. Golf needed to be No. 1 for him. Lloyd told me that when each can put their relationship ahead of all else, then they’ll be ready, and I just think that’s such a mature and smart and wonderful way to look at it. What’s the percentage on divorce for couples now, 52%? That’s the most recent figure I’ve heard. Heck, I am myself divorced (happily married again, though, thank you). So many people rush, Lloyd said she has seen that, and so many people get divorced. Anyway, I thought that was an interesting thing I didn’t get in. Hope you enjoy the story and video.

SATURDAY ON KICK THIS! It’s all-NWSL, all the time. We have several guests scheduled for our radio show, including Boston Breakers player-coach Cat Whitehill, who’ll help us break down the semifinal matchups, Sky Blue coach Jim Gabarra and defender Christie Rampone. From the Flash we have coach Aaran Lines, midfielder and team captain McCall Zerboni and Lloyd. Tune in at 11 a.m. ET, listen live at www.whtk.com, AM 1280 locally or on the iHeartRadio app.

KC CLEANING UP IN AWARDS: Well, I guess FC Kansas City’s two-game losing streak to end the regular season, including that last-minute goal allowed in the finale on their own home field that handed the Flash the NWSL regular-season title and No. 1 seed in the playoffs, didn’t have much impact on voting for year-end awards. So far, KC has claimed the NWSL’s golden booth (this is statistical, given to Lauren Holiday as the top goal-scorer), Rookie of the Year (midfielder Erika Tymrak), Goalkeeper of the Year (Nicole Barnhart) and Defender of the Year (Becky Sauerbrunn). Coach of the Year and league MVP, which should go to WNY’s Aaran Lines and Abby Wambach (hopefully) will be announced next week. But, how did this happen? Overall, Flash goalie Adrianna Franch had better statistics than Barnhart, whose best stat was a league-high 10 shutouts (Franch had seven). But Barnhart faced the fifth-most shots (187) as any goalie in the league. Franch was No. 2 at 246, just behind Portland’s Karina LeBlanc (262). Barnhart gave up the fewest goals (19, tied with Hope Solo, who played only 14 games), while Franch allowed only 20 and LeBlanc 23.

Franch was runner-up for the rookie award and was tied for second with LeBlanc for goalie honors. So how did this happen? Well, it’s worth note that KC did lead the NWSL for most of the last month of the season and the Flash were stuck in fourth most of the year until ascending to first place for the first time all year on the very last day. Here’s what I think happened: Voters, which included media, team executives and players, were LAZY and I blame the league, in part, for this. The final regular-season games ended last Sunday at about 5:30 pm ET. League voting on the awards started Thursday and ended on Sunday at midnight. That left only about six hours to vote if you wanted to wait and see how everything played out. So, I’m sure voters just submitted everything early, not wanting to wait. Heck, I was going to do my ballot on Friday, but then I thought otherwise. I sketched out where I might cast my votes, but didn’t turn in my ballot. I figured: I HAVE to wait and see and certainly KC’s collapse factored into my votes. In fact, I tweeted that my Coach of the Year vote went to Lines over the KC coach, Vlatko Andonovski, because WNY won the regular-season crown. Had KC held on, my vote would have gone to Andonovski. I don’t know, folks, but Barnhart and Sauerbrunn needed to secure just ONE point in their final two games to lock up the top seed and lost both times. To me, that didn’t sit well. So, I think the NWSL should have provided more time AFTER the final regular-season game. It’s a first-year league, growing pains for sure, but I hope the NWSL fixes that for next year and beyond.

If the Western New York Flash have a say in it, the road to the National Women’s Soccer League title will go through Sahlen’s Stadium in Rochester. The Flash clinched the top seed and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs on Sunday thanks to Chicago’s 2-1 upset in Kansas City, as the NWSL’s inaugural regular-season wrapped up. That left WNY (10-4-8), KC (11-6-5) and Portland (11-6-5) all tied with 38 points, but the Flash owned tiebreaker advantages on each. They’ll host Saturday’s semifinal – at 2 p.m. or 8 p.m. – against No. 4 seed Sky Blue FC (10-6-6), which they’ve beaten in three of our meetings. Tickets go on sale Monday at noon. Season-ticket holders have until 11:59 p.m. Thursday to purchase their reserved seats. Prices are the same as the regular season: club ($25), premium ($18), sideline ($13). Season-ticket holders will receive discounted pricing in line with their season package prices. To order tickets, call the Stadium box office at (585) 454-KICK or visit wnyflash.com.

If WNY wins Saturday, it’ll host No. 2 K.C. with NWSL top-scorer Lauren Holiday (formerly Cheney) or No. 3 Portland in the Aug. 31 championship. Former Flash forwards Alex Morgan and Christine Sinclair play for Portland. Morgan missed the regular-season finale with a sprained MCL knee injury, but hopes to be ready for the playoffs. Sunday marked the only day all season the Flash, who started 0-2-1, closed the day in first place in the NWSL. They are trying to win a fourth title in fourth different league in four years, following triumphs in the W-League in 2010, Women’s Professional Soccer in 2011 and WPSL Elite in 2012. The Flash also won regular-season titles in 2010 and 2011. K.C. needed only a tie (or win) Sunday at home against sixth-place Chicago to earn the top seed, but Jen Hoy’s stoppage-time goal stunned the Blues and made WNY No. 1 in dramatic fashion. K.C. hadn’t lost in a NWSL-high 10 matches – a 6-0-4 streak that started in mid-June – but dropped its last two regular-season matches. WNY hasn’t lost in seven straight (4-0-3) and is 8-1-2 at home. After leading the league for much of the first half of the season, Sky Blue is 1-3-3 in its last seven. It tied last-place Washington 1-1 on Sunday. The Flash lost their season opener, 1-0, at Sky Blue FC on an own-goal, then won 2-1, 3-0 and 3-0 over the New Jersey-based club.

Jersey auction for charity: The pink jerseys Flash players will wear will be autographed and raffled off with proceeds supporting the Breast Cancer Coalition of Rochester.

Boston has nothing to play for in Saturday night’s regular-season finale against the Western New York Flash, and that, along with speedy Sydney Leroux, makes them doubly dangerous. “You never know what you’re going to get when you’re playing at the end of the season against some of these teams that have been eliminated from the playoffs,” Flash forward Abby Wambach said. “You have to be ready for anything.” Everything is still on the line for Western New York (9-4-8, 35 points), which could earn the top seed in the National Women’s Soccer League playoffs and home-field advantage throughout the postseason if it beats Boston and first-place FC Kansas City (11-5-5, 38 points) is upset by sixth-place Chicago on Sunday. At the very least, a win clinches hosting the Aug. 24 semifinals.

If WNY and K.C. finished tied in points, the Flash win the tiebreaker (by virtue of their 1-0-1 record vs. K.C.), earn the regular-season title and would host an Aug. 24 semifinal and the Aug. 31 title match, if it advances. The four playoff teams are set. All this weekend’s matches determine is seeding. WNY is tied with Portland and Sky Blue FC, who are each 10-6-5, for second with 35 points. Portland plays at rival Seattle on Saturday and Sky Blue FC plays at last-place Washington on Sunday. If all four playoff teams end up at 38 points, odd as that may seem, the Flash will be the top seed. It owns the tiebreaker over Portland and Sky Blue, too. “Everyone knows what’s at stake, but nothing really changes from our end,” Flash coach Aaran Lines said. “Everyone knows that a home team has a slight advantage, perhaps, and I think we’ve proven we’re strong at home.”

WNY is 7-1-2 at Sahlen’s Stadium, but that only loss was to Boston in the Flash’s home opener back in April. The Breakers (8-7-6, 30 points), who are locked into fifth place, actually have had the better of it against the Flash. In addition to the 2-1 win in Rochester, the teams tied 2-2 twice in Massachusetts. WNY needed Jodi-Ann Robinson’s stoppage-time goal in June to pull out the draw and scored twice in the final 13 minutes on Aug. 2 to earn the tie when Carli Lloyd scored in the 85th minute. “It has been a real physical battle. There has been some chirping on the field, so we want to stay as far away from that kind of stuff as possible,” Wambach said. She has 10 goals, two shy of NWSL leader Lauren Holiday of K.C. Leroux has 11 goals, but Flash defender Brittany Taylor doesn’t think Boston will deliberately feed Leroux just because of the goal-scoring title. Then again, that’s usually the Breakers’ strategy anyway. “She definitely has the ability to create,” Taylor said. “They’re very dangerous.” Lines said he’s glad Boston will present a challenge because the Flash know their best will be needed to win and clinch at least the No. 2 seed and a semifinal at home. The Breakers are 2-0-1 since defender Cat Whitehill replaced Lisa Cole as coach on Aug. 1. That includes a tie vs. WNY, a 2-1 win over Portland and 1-0 victory last Saturday after K.C., ending the Blues 10-match unbeaten streak.“This is a perfect finale in order to be ready to go into a tough semifinal regardless of who we play,” Lines said.

Well, I’m back. Sorry for the AWOL status last week, but there was a little golf tournament going on over at Oak Hill Country Club that required my full attention. So, where do I start? Since readers are always saying the media focuses too much on the negative, let’s start with the positive, the Western New York Flash. Coach Aaran Lines’ club doesn’t have complete control of its own destiny, but the Flash have clinched one of the four National Women’s Soccer League playoff spots and actually still could finish as the regular-season champion.

To detail all the playoff possibilities will be tough, but here’s what you need to know. With one match left in the season, FC Kansas City (38 points), WNY (35), Portland (35) and Sky Blue FC (35) have ALL clinched the four NWSL playoff spots. The order of finish is what we’ll find out Sunday night. The top two seeds host playoff semifinals on Aug. 24 and the highest remaining seed after that hosts the Aug. 31 final. Here’s this weekend’s schedule:

Saturday

Portland at Seattle, 8 p.m.

Boston at WNY, 8 p.m. (Fox Soccer Channel)

Sunday

Chicago at FC Kansas City, 3:10 p.m.

Sky Blue FC at Washington, 5 p.m.

AT STAKE SATURDAY FOR FLASH: A win over Boston, which is out of the playoffs but is coming off wins over Portland and KC, would clinch hosting a semifinal. A loss or tie might do it, too, but I know that’s not how the Flash want to go into the postseason. WNY actually still could earn the No. 1 seed if Chicago upsets KC and the Flash beat Boston. WNY holds the tiebreaker on KC, Portland and Sky Blue, so if the Flash finish even with any of those squads, that’s good news for WNY. You want to dive into all the playoff scenarios? Check out Equalizer Soccer. Great work there. The Breakers, by the way, are the only team to beat the Flash at home (way back in April) and are coming in hot. Their 1-0 win over KC on Saturday stopped the Blues’ 10-match unbeaten streak, which is the longest in NWSL history (one better than WNY’s). What happened while I was AWOL: The Flash beat Seattle 1-0 on Carli Lloyd’s goal and last Saturday tied the Alex Morgan-less Thorns, 0-0, in what was (from what I heard) everything you’d expect from a scoreless draw (not many chances). Morgan was hurt last Wednesday, straining her MCL in that loss at Boston, and didn’t make the trip back to Rochester, where she played for the WPS champion Flash in 2011 as a rookie. That’s a shame, because a season-high crowd of 7,606 came out to watch and it would have been great if Morgan was here with her Thorns teammates to sign autographs. Morgan was elsewhere, presumably back on the West coast and criticized the Flash, using profanity in her tweet, about the match video stream not working well enough to her liking last Wednesday. I’m not going to quote her tweet here, because it was profane, but needless to say she came off quite snarky, in my opinion, and if I were running the NWSL I’d fine her for it (trust me, she has the money). She has every right to complain, and the Flash reportedly have apologized for having some stream issues that night. That’s not how you run a professional operation and I know that’s what the organization strives to do. But if Morgan wants to truly be a role model, she needs to watch her language from now on. In nearly 20 years of covering Abby Wambach, I’ve never heard her step out of line like that in public. I actually was surprised to see that she hasn’t taken that tweet down yet. Oh well. On to other matters … but look for more Flash coverage later this week. And personally, let me just say thank goodness for the Flash because this would have been one depressing soccer summer if it was just Rhinos in our town.

RHINOS MAKE WRONG TYPE OF HISTORY: Speaking of the Rhinos (5-9-10), quite fittingly their streak of making the playoffs 17 straight years came to an end during a 3-1 loss on Aug. 2 to Dayton. Yes, Dayton, a club Rochester owned for a few seasons when it was new to the USL. The fitting part was the match was halted midway through the second half due to lightning and never resumed. Rochester had taken the lead, just like it did July 4 at Dayton in a loss, but then gave it away by allowing three goals in a five-minute span starting in the 60th minute. Yes, that was THREE GOALS IN FIVE MINUTES. I don’t even have to look it up. That’s NEVER happened in 18 years of covering this team. What a collapse. What a series of mental meltdowns. To the Rhinos’ credit, they didn’t mail in last Friday’s home finale against Pittsburgh, another team Rochester USED to own but is now also in the playoffs. Tam McManus scored on a free kick in stoppage time to give the Rhinos a 4-3-7 home record (4-1-7 after Pat Ercoli took over for Jesse Myers May 19). Some people have asked me about the Rhinos and alluded to the fact that they thought these players quit on the season. I’d disagree. In at least four home matches they scored late goals to either pull out ties or wins. How exactly is that quitting? As I’ve said and written before, they are not a BAD team, they’re just not good enough. They are locked into finishing no better than ninth place, even if they win their final matches in Phoenix on Friday and in Los Angeles on Saturday nights. How odd would it be if these guys win three in a row to close the year after winning only four times in the first 23 matches? All this means these Rhinos will set records for (not all are set in stone):

PREVIEW: The last time the Rhinos played Dayton, Rochester was on a 2-0-3 unbeaten streak but lost 3-1 on July 4 in Ohio. When they square off again on Friday night at Sahlen’s Stadium, the Rhinos again arrive with a five-match unbeaten streak (1-0-4) and a recurring sense of desperation. They know a loss may be the final nail in their coffin, locking them into being the first squad in the franchise’s 18-year history to miss the playoffs. The only way to stop that from happening is to win. “They know what they need to do,” coach Pat Ercoli said. “Our players still believe.” Rochester is 4-8-10 and with 22 points is in 10th place, just two spots behind but nine big points out of the eighth and final USL PRO playoff position. The Rhinos have four matches left and probably need to win all of them just to have a chance at the playoffs. In Dayton (8-6-7, 31 points) and next Friday’s foe, ninth-place Pittsburgh (7-6-7, 28 points), they not only could redeem themselves for earlier losses, but they’re teams who are just ahead of them in the playoff chase that the Rhinos could conceivably catch. But Dayton is probably just as desperate because since that July 4th victory the Dutch Lions are just 1-4-2. A month ago, they were in much better shape in the USL playoff picture. The league’s sixth-ranked attack features four players with at least five goals: Gibson Bardsley (7 goals/5 assists), Tjeerd Westdijk (6/2), Brandon Swartzendruber (5/2) and midfielder Joel DeLass (6/1). (Note: I’m pretty sure DeLass is related to local radio guy, J.C. DeLass, maybe his nephew).

The Rhinos get midfielder JC Banks back from a one-game suspension and are coming off three straight shutouts, a 250-minute scoreless stretch that is the team’s best. Ercoli said before last week’s 1-0 win over Antigua he challenged them to go out and play well in front of about 700 Rochester District Soccer League youngsters in the crowd. “We talked about how important it is to be a role model,” Ercoli said. “Certainly, the playoffs are something, but every game as a purpose. We want to put out best effort and set the right example.”

With four matches left in the regular season, the last thing the Western New York Flash want to see, other than their opponent celebrating a victory, are injuries. So while they turned in another command performance at home on Wednesday night, blasting the hapless Washington Spirit, 3-0, the win came at a cost. Right back Alex Sahlen, one of three starting defenders who hadn’t missed a single minute of action before Wednesday, exited in the 25th minute with a foot injury. Flash coach Aaran Lines, who is married to Sahlen, said it’s a plantar fasciitis injury. He’ll know more on Thursday after reviewing it with the team’s medical staff, but the look on his face was serious. Lines talks often about developing depth; now his team will be tested. Rookie central defender Amy Barczuk did well on Wednesday starting in place of Brittany Taylor (groin), who sat out for precautionary reasons, Lines said. Taylor sustained the injury in WNY’s last win, a 3-0 victory over Sky Blue FC on July 21. If it was a playoff match, she’d have played, Lines said. But he decided to give her more rest. She was on the 18-player roster. Sahlen, Taylor and center back Estelle Johnson hadn’t missed a minute before Wednesday. Right back Katherine Reynolds is WNY’s other iron woman defender. She assisted on a goal. “Aaran always talks about players on the bench being ready and we’re going to need that from everybody,” midfielder Carli Lloyd said. “It’s going to take every single person to win this championship.”

Adriana Martin, who replaced Sahlen, scored the go-ahead goal in the 35th minute and the Flash, who led 23-1 in shots, poured it on in the second half, as forward Samantha Kerr (59th minute) and Lloyd (68th) connected for goals. Reynolds set up Kerr’s fifth goal with a one-hop pass in front that an unmarked Kerr buried from five yards. Lloyd’s sixth goal – she had a hat trick in the 4-0 win over Washington (1-13-4) on June 28 – was just as easy. The United States national team star also was uncovered while slotting an eight-yard shot. It came off rebound of Ingrid Wells’ shot that was blocked by a defender. At 8-4-6, the Flash are securely in fourth place in the National Women’s Soccer League. With 30 points, they’re just one behind Sky Blue FC (9-6-4) for third and four behind second-place Portland (10-4-4), which beat SBFC 3-1 on Wednesday. FC Kansas City (10-4-5, 35 points) is in the top spot, one ahead of Portland. They play Sunday in Oregon. The top four teams make the playoffs. The higher seeds host semifinal matches on Aug. 24 and the highest remaining seed hosts the Aug. 31 championship. On Saturday, WNY travels to Boston (6-7-5, 23 points), which is tied for fifth place with Chicago, to face a Breakers squad that must win or tie to keep its playoff hopes alive. The Flash close the season with home matches against seventh-place Seattle on Wednesday, Portland on Aug. 10 and Boston on Aug. 17.

“It’s my belief,” began Flash forward Abby Wambach, “that if we win out we have a good shot of hosting both (playoff) games. That’s what the goal is here. We know we’re a difficult team to beat here at home.”

WNY is 6-1-1 and has outscored foes 18-6 at Sahlen’s Stadium. The Flash were boosted by the return of Adriana, who’d been away for the last seven matches. She was with the Spanish national team practicing and playing in the UEFA European Championships. Her third goal this season was set up by Lloyd and Kerr, who terrorized Washington all night. Lloyd’s short through-ball pass put Kerr in the box, but goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris made a kick save on the 19-year-old’s point-blank shot. The ball caromed toward the end line. Kerr could have let it roll out for a corner kick, but she knew Harris was scrambling, so she chipped a pass to the far post, where Adriana volleyed it home from a few yards out. Lines slid midfielder Sarah Huffman back to Sahlen’s defensive spot, making room for Adriana, and Huffman was solid. “She does just so well at holding the ball,” Wambach said of Adriana, who led the Flash in scoring last year. “She might technically be more of a center attacker or striker like my position but she did so many great things for us today.”

When it was over at Sahlen’s Stadium on Sunday evening, after Danny Earls’ 88th-minute goal gave the Rochester Rhinos a 1-0 win over winless Antigua, there were two things distinctly noticeable about Kristian Nicht. The goalkeeper’s Mohawk haircut clearly had been freshly trimmed, and more important, he couldn’t stop grinning. “I want to win games. I want to have that feeling after the game standing here and the big angry German can smile a couple of times,” the 6-foot-5 Nicht said. It had been five long and frustrating weeks since Rochester’s last victory, a 2-1 escape act against Antigua on June 21. That, along with a June 14 win over Tampa gave hope that the Rhinos could turn their season around. They haven’t, of course. They’ve gone 3-0-7 at home (3-2-9 overall) since Pat Ercoli replaced Jesse Myers as coach on May 19, and while being undefeated is admirable, Rochester has needed three points for wins, not one for draws. With a record of 4-8-10, the Rhinos are in only 10th place with four matches left. They’re mathematically still alive to earn the eighth and final USL PRO playoff berth, but their chances are bleak. Most likely, this will be the first time in 18 years the most decorated minor-league soccer franchise in America misses the postseason. They’ve never really recovered from the 1-6-1 start that cost Myers his job. “We are a little bit unlucky but nobody can say that we don’t put the effort in and we don’t try to win,” said veteran central defender and player/coach Georgios Kyriazis. Indeed, Rochester has kept it interesting, particularly late in matches. On June 21, it needed goals in the 77th (Earls) and 88th minutes (Tyler Rosenlund) to avoid being the first team to lose to Antigua (0-23), which has been outscored 76-10 is on course to go down as the worst team in USL/A-League history. The Rhinos also got goals in the 88th and 90th minutes to pull out home draws against sixth-place Los Angeles and league-leading Richmond, respectively. They looked headed for infamy again Sunday as the first team to give up a point to Antigua. In fact, if Barracuda forward Tamorley Thomas had been able to finish a couple of breakaways in the 69th and 72nd minutes that may have happened. Thomas missed wide on the first and Nicht saved the second, as Thomas failed to pull the trigger quickly enough this time. “We were pretty high (defensively up the field) in both situations and fortunately they couldn’t score,” Nicht said. “It’s my job to give my best, to avoid a goal in that situation.”

His third straight shutout (the others were 0-0 ties) gave him a league-best eight clean sheets, which is pretty remarkable because the 2012 USL Goalie of the Year allowed 15 goals in the first five games. He had 12 shutouts last year. It’s not Nicht’s job to yell instructions to Rhinos attacking players, but he kept telling them late to “get the ball in the box,” and it worked. Mike Reidy’s cross created a chance in front, as Rhinos forward Tam McManus challenged in the air for a header. The ball caromed out to Earls, who boomed a 16-yard shot through traffic and inside the far post. “I closed my eyes and put it in the back of the net,” Earls joked about his second goal this season. Two minutes later, Andrew Hoxie’s diving header off Lucas Fernandez’s cross nearly made it 2-0. It wasn’t needed. The Rhinos finally had that winning feeling again and they looked relieved. “Hopefully they’ll get some confidence from this,” Ercoli said. “We still believe we have a chance but we have to win.”

To avoid the infamy of becoming the first team in the franchise’s 18-year history to miss the playoffs, the Rochester Rhinos will need to do something in the final eight matches that they haven’t in the first 18 — win more than three games. It’s probably going to take at least five wins, maybe more. A tie or two (compared to a loss) wouldn’t hurt, either (ties are worth one point; wins worth three). While the scenario seems dire for one of the USL’s storied franchises, the Rhinos say they’re not giving up the fight. They’re eight points out of the eighth and final playoff spot. “I don’t want to be on the first Rochester Rhinos team to not make the playoffs. That’d be a total embarrassment and I hope the other guys feel the same way,” forward Tam McManus said. “We’ll keep going to the end, until it’s mathematically impossible.”

Friday night’s opponent, the Richmond Kickers, have looked impossible to beat. Veteran coach Leigh Cowlishaw’s team is 9-0-6 and on the brink of setting some history, too. A win or draw Friday in Rochester (3-8-7) would break the USL PRO record of 15 straight matches without a loss set in 2011 by Orlando City, which went 11-0-4. Second-place Richmond ended USL PRO leader Orlando’s 25-match home unbeaten streak, winning 2-0 on June 29. The Kickers went 7-0-4 while playing 11 of their first 12 matches at home. They face 11 of their last 14 on the road, but have started that with a 2-0 win at Orlando a 0-0 draw at Tampa and 3-2 comeback win at Dayton on Saturday. Richmond scored three times in a 14-minute span early in the second half, as Luke Vercollone connected twice, to end seventh-place Dayton’s 10-match unbeaten streak. Rochester lost 3-1 at Dayton on July 4, but scored twice in the final six minutes Saturday to tie fifth-place Charlotte, 2-2. “Richmond has obviously been in really good form the entire season and I have a lot of respect for that organization,” Rhinos forward Blake Brettschneider said. “But they’re coming into our house and all bets are off.” The Rhinos are 2-2-6 since Pat Ercoli replaced Jesse Myers as coach. They’re not losing as much, but the lack of winning has put their playoff pursuit in peril. Unless Rochester somehow runs the table, it’ll finish with fewer than 11 wins for the first time. Its lowest finish in the standings has been sixth. “I’d say the biggest thing has been all the injuries,” Ercoli said.

Midfielder JC Banks, the 2012 MVP, missed the first several matches coming back from a torn ACL. The biggest loss has been forward Matt Luzunaris, who broke his leg in the home opener. He was the top off season acquisition, a finisher who had nine goals last year for Orlando. Of course, the Rhinos were already 0-4-1 by the time Luzunaris went down. Then injuries mounted throughout the roster. Defenders Troy Roberts, Georgios Kyriazis, Bilal Duckett and Lucas Fernandez, midfielders Ross LaBauex, Michael Tanke and Chris Estridge and forward Matt Horth all missed three or more matches. Tanke is likely out for the rest of the season, as is Luzunaris, who also had an appendectomy two weeks ago but it back in Rochester. Estridge is no longer with the team.

“Everybody is aware of the situation we put ourselves in,” Brettschneider said, “but not one person in the locker room is ready to lay down and quit.” But even though the Rhinos haven’t gotten the results they wanted, that might be their biggest strength. They don’t give up. “We’ve shown we’re a team that keeps going,” McManus said. “We’ve had opportunities to throw the towel in the past couple weeks and we didn’t.”

MYERS JOINS EMPIRE UNITED: Former Rhinos coach Jesse Myers, who guided the club to a second-place finish last year and 1-6-1 mark this season before being let go, has accepted a job coaching two youth boys teams for Empire Revolution Soccer Academy, one of U.S. Soccer’s elite development programs that’s based in Rochester but also affiliated with the New England Revolution. Myers, whose team went 12-7-5 last year in his first season after leaving the Richmond Kickers, where he was an assistant for 15 years, and his family own a home in Fairport.

U.S. WOMEN TO RESUME PLAY SEPT. 3: The United States women’s soccer team won’t wait long to get going after the National Women’s Soccer League closes with its Aug. 31 title match. The Americans will play Mexico on Sept. 3 at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. It’ll be telecast live on Fox Sports 1. It’ll be the first game for the U.S. since WNY Flash star and Pittsford native Abby Wambach broke Mia Hamm’s world record for goals by scoring four times on June 20 in New Jersey. She has 160 goals.

Jeff DiVeronica has covered professional soccer and the Rhinos for the Democrat and Chronicle since the team's inception in 1996. "Devo's Direct Kicks" takes aim mostly at Rochester soccer, but will also highlight the USL, MLS and U.S. national team play. Devo, his nickname since college at St. John Fisher, also hosts two weekly radio shows each Saturday on WHTK-AM/FM (1280/107.3 or www.whtk.com). "Kick This!" (11 a.m.) features soccer talk, while the Canandaigua National Bank High School Sports Show (noon) covers Section V sports. E-mail Jeff at jdiveron@DemocratandChronicle.com.
Or follow him on Twitter: @RocDevo